State of Business: Worse, But

The recession is getting worse,
judged by some of the short-term statistics that came out last week. But
there were also signs that it was close to the bottom.

Industrial production in January fell 1% from December, for the sixth
drop in as many months. Personal income in January dipped for the third
successive month, to slightly less than 1% below October's peak. Sales
and new orders of manufacturers of durable goods dropped in January 2%
below December's volume. Department store sales last week were 3% below
the year-ago level. So far this year, they lag 4% behind the 1960...